It is not uncommon for healthcare organizations to receive large volumes of telecom data every month, increasing the chances of missed savings opportunities. However, regular annual reviews will ensure that appropriate pricing and terms are applied to your account.

Opportunity #2: Search for Credits and Discounts

While reviewing your contracts to confirm that pricing and terms are accurate, it’s essential to verify that appropriate credits, discounts and incentives have also been applied to your account.

These are often overlooked for a number of reasons, but one of the most common is that certain long-term contracts, which are accepted in their current state, are not reviewed regularly.

At VIE Healthcare Consulting, we refer to these as the “Sacred Cow” accounts.

“Sacred Cow” accounts are lasting agreements that are often accepted as current and accurate due to an enduring and trusting vendor relationship, but these could also be hiding significant savings opportunities in the form of missed credits or another unrealized discount opportunity.

Renewals are an ideal time to renegotiate better terms and pricing and to maintain specific items under contract.

With this strategy, your organization will always be ahead of potential price increases or any undesirable conditions before they occur. Strategies and negotiations can be planned in advance for a profitable result.

Investigate the top telecom vendors for comparable pricing, incentives and other necessary factors and benchmark these features into your telecom contracts.

Researching market standards will validate your request for best-in-class products and services with your current vendor. However, to be successful, visibility into the telecom market is key, although this is not easily obtained by a single healthcare organization.

For the most accurate results:

• Your health system will need to examine multiple vendors and employ a large bandwidth of resources.
• Negotiation skills and a deep knowledge of healthcare vendor programs are also necessary to secure cost-saving structures.

If your organization can provide all of these necessary resources, this strategy will deliver a significant improvement to your operating margins.

VIE Healthcare’s custom-designed strategies consistently produce thousands of dollars in monthly savings for our clients, but these only scratch the surface of the numerous ways we can save your hospital money.